Black Rose
by Keriel
Summary: Hunter's Guidebook: Rule Number 2: Do not, under any circumstances eat the flesh of a Grimm, even when faced with death. This rule is heavily enforced, but why. Well Ruby is about to find out. Watch as she comes to terms with what happens when you eat something you aren't supposed to. May be kinda dark.
1. The Begginings

**AN: This idea came out of nowhere, wile I was watching the new season of SAO. This chapter is really just a prologue, as my idea won't even be known for another chapter. There is a major hint of what it is about in this chapter though. Please Follow Favorite and review!**

It is a clear, crisp winter night, the shattered moon like a reflection of the massacre below. Amid the snowy forest below kneels a teenage girl, covered in scarlet blood, surrounded by bits and pieces of what used to be black, wolfish monstrosities. She lies there crying, holding what remains of her beloved mother.

** 6 months later**

"Ruuubyyy! Yaang! Time to get up, the neighbors need your help,"Qrow shouted from the kitchen. He turned to flip another pancake off of the griddle turning around to see Ruby storm downstairs in her black with roses pajamas, followed by a storm of ethereal rose petals. A few seconds later Yang slowly made her way down the stairs still half asleep. As they both sat down, Qrow turned around holding a stack of pancakes for Ruby and a cup of coffee for Yang. After making a few return trips to grab the coffee pitcher and the other two stacks of pancakes the trio sat down to a hearty breakfast.

After breakfast, Ruby and Yang walked up to their neighbor's plot, which was surrounded by dense woodlands. They walked around the house, approaching a barn where they could hear the grinding of metal hitting metal. As they cautiously approached the door, weapons drawn, a small, mouse faunas appeared in the doorway. He stared at them for a second before walking up to them. Yang stepped forward and said,"Hey Layl, Qrow told us that you could use our help?"

"Ya I do, the beowolves around here are getting bolder, hell I saw one staring at my house last night from where we're standing! I recently discovered their nest, so I called you two girls over here to help me clear them out."

After discussing the plan, the group ran to the nest. As they approached the gaping hole in the side of a cliff, Layl and Yang stopped, waiting for Ruby to draw the monsters out. As they began to worry about how long Ruby had been gone, a cloud of roses exploded from the entrance, Ruby slamming her back into a tree, passing out and dropping Crescent Rose. Seeing the state her adopted sister was in, Yang got into a boxing stance while Layl pulled out a Dust infused arrow, cocking his crossbow. As if on cue, a pack of about 20 or so beowolves came charing out of the cave, trying to catch the other two by surprise.

Yang dashed forward, slamming into a wolf with an uppercut to to the jaw. As the wolf flew up, she jumped into the air, using her shotgun to accelerate her arm, so that she could kill the wolf with a strike to the head, causing it to slam into two others. As she came down, she punched the incapacitated ones, splattering their brains onto their pack mates.

As Yang took care of the other wolves, Layl started to pick off the beowolves as best he could with his measly crossbow. He took aim, fired a cyan bolt, and hit his 7th beowolf, causing its head to become encased in a block of ice. Before he could aim in on another, he was tackled to the ground. He struggled to get up when the beowolf on him took a bite out of his shoulder. Layl's scream was abruptly cut off as he finally passed out from the pain.

Waking up disoriented, Ruby looked on at the horrors taking place. As she watched, unable to stand, Yang was encircled by about 10 wolves who were waiting for a chance to charge her. Deciding to gain the momentum, Yang charged one, delivering a roundhouse kick to the gut, causing it to collapse. As she turned to finish it off, another wolf jumped on her back, slowing her down. She flipped the wolf over her head but by the time she had finished, 2 more had taken its place. Slowly, the wolves dragged the blonde beauty to the ground, Ruby just starting to recover.

When Ruby finally stood up, the beowolves had almost succeeded in killing the blonde. In a fit of rage, Ruby picked up her bastardization of a scythe and an anti material sniper, which she swiftly used to shoot the wolves who were digging into Yangs back. After reloading her gun, she launched herself forward, slicing the wolves apart, all the while tears were streaming out of her eyes. "FIRST MY MOM AND NOW MY NEW SISTER! Are you going to take everything that is precious to me!?" Ruby screamed while she cut off the legs of the last beowolf. After disabling the grimm, she walked up to its face and screamed,"Maybe you should feel what you did to my family and friends, huh." Not thinking straight, she sliced open the shoulder of the wolf, ripped out a piece of the muscle, and shoved it into her mouth, swallowing the flesh of her enemy. As she stood over the wolf, a vengeful lust present in her eyes, she took her scythe, rolled the wolf onto its back, and sliced its belly open. As its entrails exploded from its chest cavity, ruby turned to check on Yang. Standing over her, Ruby was hit with dizziness, causing her to collapse on top of Yang.


	2. Waking Up

Beep ... Beep ... Beep.

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the bright light. Glancing around, she saw Yang, asleep in another hospital bed, attached to what seemed to be an endless amounts of IVs, heart monitors, Aura monitors, and a plethora of other observation equipment. Struggling to sit up, Ruby ripped out several of her own tubes and electrodes, causing an alarm to sound. Immediately, a doctor followed by two panicked nurses crashed into the room, looking for a dying patient. After seeing that Ruby had awoken, and was in the process of pulling off the heart monitor, they visibly relaxed. As Ruby watched their reactions with curiosity, the Doctor came forward to introduce himself.

"Hello Ruby, my name is Dr. Zhou. It's nice to finally meet you in person."

In a state of confusion, Ruby asked him,"Excuse me, but where are we? The last thing I remember was thinking Yang was dead and crying over her."

"Well, right now you are in the Beacon Academy Hospital. Your Uncle Qrow found you out in the Emerald forest, lying passed out next to 20 beowolf corpses. Under you was Yang, whose death was prevented thanks to your luck. As you passed out, you fell on top of her ripped gut wound, causing the bleeding to stop enough for her aura to start to heal it. After finding you two, he called in a favor from our headmaster. And thats how you ended up here."

Ruby responded,"Did you guys find Lyle, he was there with us!"

"Sadly, we found his body, several meters away. Unfortunately, his vital organs were eaten by a beowolf, causing him to die," Zhou mundanely spouted.

Without giving Ruby time to fully comprehend his response, Dr. Zhou began to explain the events of that night to Ruby and wanted her to fill in any gaps they had. Ruby explained that she had been knocked out and had woken up to the remnants of the battle, quickly finishing off the last beowolves before they could kill Yang. After talking briefly, Zhou and the nurses left Ruby's room to let her rest.

Around noon, someone knocked on Ruby's door. Quickly straightening out her clothes she responded,"Come on in." As she finished a older man wearing a green and grey business suit walked in, taking off his bowler hat.

"Don't mind if I do, Ms Rose. Now to get the greetings out of the way. I am Ozpin, the headmaster here at Beacon, and I have a proposition for you. How would you like to attend Beacon Academy next semester with your sister? This would allow you to become a huntress in 4 years, improve your fighting skills, and settle your 'grudge' against the Grimm, so what do you say?"

"What else can I say but YES! Of course I accept your offer. This has been my dream since that horrible night,"Ruby rambled in excitement, almost jumping up and down on her bed in joy.

"Okay then, you will be sent home today and hopefully Ms Long will be sent home in a few days. On behalf of Beacon, we look forward to seeing you here again next week."


	3. The Forest

The day of reckoning had finally come. The two cousins stepped off of the airship the shorter one looking in awe at the other students' weapons. The older one stepped off trying and failing to avoid a queasy looking boy. Thus the first day of school began.

"Hey Yang, look that kid has a fire sword, and that one has a shotgun lance, and... wow that guy behind you looks kinda sick, doesn't he?" I said while spastically looking around before telling Yang about the scrawny blond kid behind her. Looking back, Yang tried to move out of the way. She was rewarded with the boy vomiting next to her, before standing back up. He then said,"Hey, my name's Juan, how bout we get to know each other better." Trying to find a way out of this situation, Yang shouted to me,"Hey Rubes, I'm going to talk to some of my friends, see you later, bye!" She then quickly ran over to a group of people, disappearing, leaving me utterly lost.

After some walking around trying to find the auditorium, I looked down at my Scroll, which was displaying the school map. While I was walking along, I bumped into something and fell over. Looking up, I was met with the sight a preppy, rich girl in predominately white clothing. Around her were scattered bottles of dust, all stamped with the same logo that the girl wore. Trying to help her I started to pick up the bottles. Before I could even get to the third bottle, the girl shouted,"First you run into me and now your trying to steal from me, I should call the campus security." "You have it wrong, I was trying to -" "Do you even know what could have happened if one of these broke? It could have blown us off if the cliff!" the girl screamed while vigorously shaking a cracked bottle of yellow dust, which then scattered around the two students.

"A-a-a-Achooo!" I sneezed, causing the powder to ignite, sending the white girl on top of me.

Standing up, the Girl shook off her clothes before glaring at me. She started on her rant again, completely unfazed by what had just happened,"Do you even know who I am? I'm Weiss Schnee, the heiress of one of the most influential Dust companies in the world. We -" Walking by the disaster scene, a girl wearing a black tails tuxedo over form fitting black shirt and pants cut off the heiress. "Are you talking about the same Schnee Corporation that has shady business partners and controversial labor forces?" She quipped before pulling me to my feet.

After thanking the girl who saved me from Weiss' rant, who itroduced herself as Blake Belladonna, I wandered the gardens still unsure on how to reach the auditorium. As she neared the central statue, Ruby happened upon a girl wearing a purple hoodie and jeans. As she tried to approach this girl, the girl signaled for me to follow her. Intrigued, I decided to follow this mystery girl. Stopping at a nearby bench, the girl motioned for me to sit down. After a moment of awkward silence she spoke. "To make this brief, I know who you are and what you did last week."

"W-what- what do mean, all I did was clear out a beowolf nest?"

"I'm talking about what you did to the last beowolf, do you understand now?" I quickly nodded yes. The girl then said,"My name is Bree Magnelia and I'm going to ask you a few questions. First, have you felt any weird desires since that night. Second, if you have, what have you done about them. Third, what would you do if you found someone in the same position as you?"

Stunned, I responded,"Yes, Nothing, and I would be curious as to what is happening and why." "The reason you are having these 'urges' is because you ate the flesh of a Grimm. Their bodies are made to be humanities ultimate downfall even after they have died. Why they are is up to you to find out. Also one final note, don't tell anyone of this conversation and act like you do not know me." After her vague explanation she walked off leaving me as confused as ever.

* * *

><p>The next day, I stood slightly bent over waiting for her turn. One by one, the students next to me were launched off of the pads into the Emerald forest with two instructions, find a relic, and that the first person I made eye contact out of the 12 other students was my partner for the rest of my time at Beacon. Suddenly, I was in the air, the only land several hundred feet below me. I calmly tucked my arms in, speeding towards a large cottonwood tree that dominated the forest skyline. As I approached it, I took out my scythe, positioning it so that it would dig into the tree. As the scythe made contact with the tree, it spun around it while corkscrewing me to the ground. After I stopped, I jumped down to the forest floor. Looking around, I picked the general direction of where it should have been and started walking.<p>

After an hour, I stumbled across a pack of beowolves surrounding a fallen student. Readying my scythe, I dashed forward, slicing 2 beowolves in half. As soon as the first drop of black ichor was spilled my senses seemed to sharpen to the point that the dark forest looked like an open clearing. I started to walk forward as a red haze slowly descended over my vision. As my march reached the fallen body, I positioned my scythe at hip level where it was about the same height as the beowolves' shoulders. As the first beowolf entered my range, I began to spin in a circle while shooting Crescent Rose, causing my spin to accelerate. Soon a tornado of rose petals, blades, and stray bullets surrounded the Grimm, drawing them into a fragrant, beautiful hell. As I finally stopped spinning the shredded Grimm slowly fell to the ground in a bloody rain accompanied by larger chunks.

Searching for survivors, I noticed a nearby beowolf that had survived my Rose Tornado intact start to limp away. Dropping my weapon I walked over to the beowolf as if in a trance. Upon reaching it, I had the strangest desire. The voice in my head screamed,"Rip out its throat, do it now!" Agreeing with this new voice I kicked out the legs from the Grimm, content to cause it as much pain as possible. After dropping it to the ground I flipped it over, onto its stomach. Reaching down, on instinct I funneled my aura into my nails, making them as hard and sharp as steel. Slowly, I drove my hand into the beowolf's chest cavity, piercing its lungs. Digging farther I found its heart, which I grabbed pulling it out while it still beat in my hand. While it beat for the last time I lifted it in the air like it was the Vytal Tournament trophy. An inch or two away from my mouth, I snapped out of the haze, dropping the heart on top of the dead beowolf.

Shaking my head I slowly stumbled back, tripping over something. Landing on the ground I looked at what was under me to see the eyes of the girl who I exploded earlier. "Shit!" I exclaimed, jumping onto my feet. "Well, it looks like we're partners now," I told her while helping her to her feet. "What happened? The last thing I remember is being surrounded by a pack of those dreadful beowolves..." Weiss looked around at the blood splattered clearing in disbelief.

"Did YOU kill them all!?"

"I told you that my blade speaks louder than my words. Why do you think my weapon of choice is this," I said while picking up my scythe and hefting it over my shoulder.

"Whatever, do you know the way to the ruins?"

"No, I was looking for them while I stumbled upon your situa-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAh!"a girl screamed in the distance.

"I think that the ruins are that way," I said while running off, not looking to see if Weiss was following me or not.

Upon reaching the ruins, I looked back to see where Weiss was and flew face first into something. Looking up from the ground, Bree stood over me smiling. "I didn't know that you missed me so much or I would have tried to meet up with you."

"Um, sorry for running into you, I was following what sounded like a girl screaming."

"Oh, that. That was some red haired chick and that blonde boy who barfed in the ship running from a Deathstalker. The chick picked up a black rook before running away from the deathstalker."

"So it was her who was screaming?"

"No!" Bree laughed,"no it was the boy screaming while running away with his arms waving above his head!" Upon hearing this, we spent the next few minutes laughing on the ground. Standing back up, Bree said,"So, it looks like we are partners, lets get out of here!"

"Wait!" Weiss said, running into the clearing panting like a dog,"Ruby ... Is ... My ... Partner!"

"We can figure it out later, lets just leave before we get picked off by another deathstalker, or worse a nevermore!" Bree suggested.

As we left the ruins, we decided to make a dash past the team which had decided to fight the deathstalker on a stone bridge. As this was the only way to get to the end, I decided to jump onto the deathstalker's tail. After jumping off of it, Weiss followed, copying my moves exactly. Bringing up the rear, Bree decided to run to the tip of the tail, grab the stinger of the deathstalker, and to rip it off. After that show of brute strength, she flipped off of the tail implanting the stinger in the deathstalker's head. Jumping away from the enraged Grimm, she ran after us. Taking one last look back, I saw the pink haired girl bury the stinger inside the deathstalker with her massive grenade launcher/ sledge hammer combo weapon.

After returning the chess piece to Ozpin, we headed to the auditorium once again. Once there, we received a lecture from Ozpin before he began to announce teams. "The final team consists of an anomaly of five students who picked up the black knight peices. they are Yang Xoi Long, Bree Magnelia, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, and Weiss Schnee will make up team WBBRY (yew berry) which will be led by ... Bree Magnolia!" "Everyone, your belongings have been moved to your new rooms which are now bookmarked on your Scrolls. Goodnight and good luck in your ordeals these following years."

AN:

Hello everybody! I hop you like this chapter. As usual please follow fav and review. Also, don't be afraid to PM me with story ideas or anything like that. On another note, I will NOT update this regularly. Most of my updates will be sporadic so don'y reveiw telling me to update. The reveiws are supposed to be your veiws on the story, how it can be improved, etc. for example tell me whether you like the 1st person veiw this chapter of the third person veiw from the last few chapters. Also since I forgot this earlier, I don't own RWBY (although I wish I did). The only part of this I own is the contents of this story and the OCs in it. Thanks for reading, bye!


	4. Revelations

Later that night I was reading a book about Grimm and their habits when a paper airplane flew out of nowhere and hit me in my temple. Rubbing my head I unfolded the paper as Bree said,"Hey guys, I'm going to see if I can grab a bite to eat. I'll be back in a bit." Looking at the paper, I read:

"Ruby,

It is time for you to realize what happened to you and what you now are. Meet me on the roof in 10 minutes, ALONE, and be prepared to start a journey into a whole new world.

Bree"

Glancing briefly at Bree as she walked through the door, I put my head down and waited ten minutes. Hopping off of my bed I told the rest of the team,"Hey girls, I'm going to go to the cafeteria and grab some cookies, I'll see you in a bit." Walking out the door, I waited for it to close before rushing up the stairs to the roof.

Climbing up the last flight of stairs I walked out into a starless night, the only light being the pale, ghostly light from the single shattered moon. Balancing on the railing of the roof was a figure sporting a purple hoodie and black jeans. Turning towards me, I looked into the fiery red pits that were her eyes. Jumping off of the railing via a front flip, Bree paced up to me. Causally, she said,"Hey Ruby, glad you could make it. Sit down here and I'll start explaining our situation." As I sat down Bree pulled out a small dust lantern along with her scroll. Turning on the lamp, she turned on the scroll and quickly maneuvered to a book.

Glancing up at me she began,"Our condition is a special one, one that only a few chosen people have the chance of gaining. As you know, the second rule in the Hunter's Guidebook is 'A hunter must never eat the flesh of the enemy, the Grimm.' Do you know what usually happens to people who eat Grimm meat?"

"No, I don't. Why?" I answered.

"When a person eats a Grimm's flesh they undergo one of three options. The first is that the poison in the Grimm's blood reacts with a human's aura, weakening the bonds that hold his soul together. After a few weeks the victim becomes comatose and enters a vegetative state."

"The second option is that the victim's aura will accept the flesh into their body, but they will driven insane by the bloodthirstiness and lust caused by the Grimm's flesh corrupting our aura. Along with these desires the flesh changes their bodies. The victim will gain incredible strength, speed, and dexterity. The reason why this happens is that the victim usually has undergone a small traumatic event in their life, thus making them more susceptible to the effects of the flesh."

"The final option is the one we are afflicted with. Due to the person undergoing major traumatic events, or having an overly negative view towards humanity and faunas alike, the flesh is literally absorbed into the body. This action allows us to exhibit strength and speed comparable to a fully trained huntress, as well as having senses that can compete with the senses of a faunas. Also, like the Grimm we grow stronger, faster and gain new abilities the longer we have the condition. The most impressive ability this disease gives us is that we are almost immortal. The only weapons that can kill us are weapons that are infused with Soul Dust, which happens to be the rarest kind of dust discovered."

"Now for some history. The third variant of this disease only started to form in the years following the massive Faunas Uprising, where many people on both sides suffered from starvation due to the fact that they were trapped in the horrid conditions of a Vacuen winter. Due to the traumatic events and the only available food source being Grimm, the survivors turned to eating the aforementioned Grimm. It was through these war veterans that this disease spread to Vale. Also, it is thought that every person who is a descendant of one of the lucky survivors has a greater chance of awakening their inner beast."

"Now I know your tired and that is a lot to comprehend so I'll let you go for tonight, but report back up here tomorrow after sparring class."Bree finished, motioning to Ruby that she should go down the stairs. Reaching her room RWBY flopped onto her bed, curled up in the covers and promptly fell asleep.


	5. Dreams

**AN: Hey everyone, sorry for the long beak between updates, but I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that there will most likely not be any more updates until November. The good news is that I will be participating in NaNoWriMo, specifically on this story. If you don't know what this is, it is basically a challenge to write a 50,000 word long story in the month of November, which is national novel writing month. Because of such, I will either be updating multiple chapters once a week or smaller chapters every day. So... Wish me luck. Also, as I said before, this story will not always fall in line with the episodes. And without further ado, onto the story. Jk, I still have the disclaimer: RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and I do not, so there. Now actually onto the story! **

I stumbled on uneven ground, my improved sight unable to penetrate the inky darkness that surrounds me. I try to run in one direction, hoping to find civilization. Suddenly, I hit my toe on a rock and fall over. Looking up, I am suddenly surrounded by misty, black and white pine trees. Finally seeing what I tripped on, I let out a shriek. On the ground lies Layl's eviscerated corpse. As I began to back away, his head slowly rotated in my direction while his body raised itself into a sitting position. Standing up, he slowly shambled in my directions, the remains of his gut tumbling onto the gray rock below us. Continuing to back up, I tripped and fell. Before I could recover, Layl tried to say something but instead just pitifully wheezed due to his lack of a larynx. I continued to crawl backwards until I hit a tree. Suddenly an inky black presence filled by head.

_Ruby, why did you let me die?_

I stared at Lay and shook my head back and forth while whispering,"I didn't mean to leave you to die, I couldn't do anything about it!"

_And yet you had time to torture a beowolf and then commit a taboo by eating its flesh. You could could have fetched help for both me and Yang, but instead you decided to choose the path of a monster._

"I am not a monster."

_Oh really, then why do you derive pleasure from torturing Grimm before killing them? I'm pretty sure that means you are a monster._

"No! I am not a monster, I am a normal teenage girl!"

_Yes you are!_

"No I'm not!"

_Yes you are!_

**"No I Am Not!" **I said while swinging my scythe cleanly through his head. His body drops onto the rock with a thud.

_See, only a monster would hurt another human_, Layl projected to me while standing up and walking to me. Upon reaching me, he touched my head and produced a mirror from the back pocket of his tattered overalls.

Layl said, _You really are quite the monster, I mean, just look at yourself._ As he said this, he turned the mirror in my direction to let me witness the horror that was my reflection. I stared with morbid curiosity at face I gazed upon. Instead of my silver eyes, glowing red eyes, the color of burning coals, glared back. Looking farther down, my perfect teeth had become jagged, serrated canine teeth, perfect for ripping into flesh. These features stood in stark contrast to my porcelain colored skin. Suddenly and ironically, my skin began to burst out into coarse black fur that matched my Grimmesque appearance. As my form shifted into that of a small beowolf I was enveloped into a storm of three emotions: hate, rage, and hunger.


	6. AN

Hey everyone, I'm really sorry about not updating recently. To keep it short, I've run into computer problems and I probably will not be able to update until around Christmas.

Sorry for the delay,

Keriel


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